You may not realise this but as from the beginning of April, failure to take data protection and data loss seriously is no longer an option.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a new guide which means that penalties of up to £500,000 can be imposed for breaching the Data Protection Act.
In its guide the Information Commissioner states:
“We have a statutory power to impose a financial penalty on an organisation if the Information Commissioner is satisfied that:
• there has been a serious breach of one or more of the data protection principles by the organisation; and
• the breach was likely to cause substantial damage or distress.
The power to impose a financial penalty only applies if:
• the breach was deliberate; or
• the organisation knew (or should have known) that there was a risk of a breach which was likely to cause substantial damage or distress, but failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.
The guide continues that it is the intention only to impose financial penalties in respect of deliberate or reckless handling of personal data which seriously breaches the data protection principles.
Schools have also been warned to check procedures for protecting pupil data after the information watchdog was given powers to issue fines.
Since 1998 we at Redstor have been providing solutions around data backup and data security and if you want any advice around these issues and how the data protection act might apply to you then give us a call.
We certainly have some interesting solutions around laptop data loss as we continue to see this as a big issue in the private and public sectors.
Thursday 15 April 2010
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) for Schools and Local Authorities
The CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) Energy Efficiency Scheme came into effect on the 1st April 2010 as part of the government’s commitment to tackle climate change.
About 20,000 large private and public sector organisations will be involved in the scheme in some way and it is mandatory.
The scheme aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the UK. This is part of UK governments targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% compared to the 1990 baseline.
Organisations that meet the qualification criteria, which are based on how much electricity they were supplied in 2008, will be obliged to participate in CRC.
Participating organisations will have to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances initially sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more allowances it has to purchase.
There is a direct incentive for these organisations to reduce their emissions. As well as reducing carbon emissions, by increasing energy efficiency the scheme will help organisations save money by reducing their energy bills. These savings are hoped to be well in excess of the costs of participating in the scheme.
In addition, the better an organisation performs in terms of reducing its emissions, the higher it will appear in the annually published league table, showing the comparative performance of all participants. This in turn provides a further benefit: all the revenue raised from selling allowances is ‘recycled’ back to participants, and the league table position affects how much of the revenue each organisation receives.
If you are a school or local authority then specific rules apply.
In England, Scotland and Wales participating local authorities will be responsible for emissions from all schools maintained by the local authority and any Academies and City Technology Colleges that are geographically located in the area for which the local authority exercises educational functions.
The local authority must consider the electricity supplies to these schools when determining whether it meets the qualification criteria.
■ if the local authority then qualifies, it must either make an information disclosure or participate fully in CRC.
■ during the scheme, schools should give reasonable assistance to their local authority and supply data about their energy supply. In most cases, this can be done once a year and the school can request an annual energy statement from its energy suppliers to help compile this data
■ schools must report their energy supply to their local authority following the same rules that participants must comply with. In the case of PFI schools, where the PFI company is responsible for the energy supply contract, the energy supply will be attributed to the PFI company. Grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland will be included as part of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) once it comes into operation. Until then, all grant-aided schools will participate as part of their Education and Library Board.
Private schools in Great Britain are not included as part of a local authority’s energy supply. Instead, private schools only participate in CRC if they, or their organisational group (including its school(s), pass the CRC qualification threshold of 6,000 MWh/year of half hourly metered electricity use.
Redstor in partnership with CentraStage provide solutions to help you measure your energy and carbon useage in schools in order to meet the compulsory Carbon Reduction Commitment Obligations.
For more information please call us and subscribe to our RSS feed.
About 20,000 large private and public sector organisations will be involved in the scheme in some way and it is mandatory.
The scheme aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the UK. This is part of UK governments targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% compared to the 1990 baseline.
Organisations that meet the qualification criteria, which are based on how much electricity they were supplied in 2008, will be obliged to participate in CRC.
Participating organisations will have to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances initially sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more allowances it has to purchase.
There is a direct incentive for these organisations to reduce their emissions. As well as reducing carbon emissions, by increasing energy efficiency the scheme will help organisations save money by reducing their energy bills. These savings are hoped to be well in excess of the costs of participating in the scheme.
In addition, the better an organisation performs in terms of reducing its emissions, the higher it will appear in the annually published league table, showing the comparative performance of all participants. This in turn provides a further benefit: all the revenue raised from selling allowances is ‘recycled’ back to participants, and the league table position affects how much of the revenue each organisation receives.
If you are a school or local authority then specific rules apply.
In England, Scotland and Wales participating local authorities will be responsible for emissions from all schools maintained by the local authority and any Academies and City Technology Colleges that are geographically located in the area for which the local authority exercises educational functions.
The local authority must consider the electricity supplies to these schools when determining whether it meets the qualification criteria.
■ if the local authority then qualifies, it must either make an information disclosure or participate fully in CRC.
■ during the scheme, schools should give reasonable assistance to their local authority and supply data about their energy supply. In most cases, this can be done once a year and the school can request an annual energy statement from its energy suppliers to help compile this data
■ schools must report their energy supply to their local authority following the same rules that participants must comply with. In the case of PFI schools, where the PFI company is responsible for the energy supply contract, the energy supply will be attributed to the PFI company. Grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland will be included as part of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) once it comes into operation. Until then, all grant-aided schools will participate as part of their Education and Library Board.
Private schools in Great Britain are not included as part of a local authority’s energy supply. Instead, private schools only participate in CRC if they, or their organisational group (including its school(s), pass the CRC qualification threshold of 6,000 MWh/year of half hourly metered electricity use.
Redstor in partnership with CentraStage provide solutions to help you measure your energy and carbon useage in schools in order to meet the compulsory Carbon Reduction Commitment Obligations.
For more information please call us and subscribe to our RSS feed.
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